Sorry to rant but I am kinda pissed with taiwan’s policy with foreigners and seriously thinking of leaving…
Just wanna hear your views about the country… are you happy here? what made you stay?
[quote=“songzzz”]are you happy here?[/quote]no
[quote]what made you stay?[/quote]Married to a local, so it’s not so easy to “leave if you don’t like it”, but I did try once, got a job paying 3 times as much as I do now, but they went bust which really put a bummer on things, so I came back, now wish I stayed longer and cleaned toilets or something.
[quote=“Big Fluffy Matthew”][quote=“songzzz”]are you happy here?[/quote]no
Sometimes I feel the same way.
Then I smack myself in the head and get over it.
I still plan to get off the island one day. A.S.A.P.
Sometimes I am happy here though, but that has nothing to do with Taiwan, more to do with the people that I know. If I just looked at Taiwan I’d shoot myself.
gets on the bandwagon
Yeah, me too.
Also, what’s up with 7-11 not accepting my winning 200 dollar receipt?
Some BS about having to use my ID and put my name on it, but wouldn’t accept my ID as I have an English name. WTF? More alienation? :s
Don’t evaluate things when you’re pissed off. The result is generally bad decision-making.
Me, I can’t give up betel nut, sexy Taiwanese women, and eating at Alleycat’s with the fellows. I’m staying.
…actually, I’m heading back within the next year, but it has nothing to do with disliking Taiwan. If I didn’t have other things I want to do in the U.S., I’d probably stay in Asia forever. I’m sure I’ll be back after a few years, maybe sooner.
[quote=“Tomas”]Don’t evaluate things when you’re pissed off. The result is generally bad decision-making.
Me, I can’t give up betel nut, sexy Taiwanese women, and eating at Alleycat’s with the fellows. I’m staying.
…actually, I’m heading back within the next year, but it has nothing to do with disliking Taiwan. If I didn’t have other things I want to do in the U.S., I’d probably stay in Asia forever. I’m sure I’ll be back after a few years, maybe sooner.[/quote]
Let me add to that. Certain things about Taiwan and Asia have grown on me, and certain things here are better. Of course, many things can be infuriating to an outsider.
Still, I am not too keen on idolizing the home country. I certainly remember plenty of problems then and now. So just be careful not to make a decision based on skewed, sentimental visions of home.
Luckily for me, I will soon be based in CA, but will be back often enough for work. That’s the best of both worlds for me.
and while I’m at it, there are few pizzerias that can equal Alleycats in all areas of quality, choice, and price in the US. This would be considered a “gourmet” joint that charges exhorbitant prices plus tax and tip where I come from. and there’s no way you could find a hoegaarden for three-fitty.
and i will miss being able to walk everywhere with aid of bus and subway network which generally has been quite efficient (ok, reading those bus stop signs are a pain). The only other city in N.America that’s comparable is Boston, and I can’t stand the way they talk.
That’s because N$180 ~= US$5.40 :raspberry:
songzzz, you said “I am kinda pissed with taiwan’s policy with foreigners and seriously thinking of leaving…”
Which policy? Just curious.
Of course being pissed off may likely pass, but if I ever became habitually unhappy in Taiwan I would leave ASAP, regardless of what kind of relationship I was in. Yes, I know that’s a very selfish thing to say - and you can bet I would ask my partner to go with me - but life is too short IMHO to be unhappy or miserable when you can do something about it.
Part of the reason I am still here is because I am more pissed off with U.S. foreign policy than I am with Taiwan’s policies on foreigners. 
I’m quite well contented with my life here. It’s not all roses, but the good things add up to enough to keep me from contemplating leaving.
I don’t think Taiwan has any policy on foreigners per se. Just a hodgepodge of contradictory regulations which were rooted in an anti-immigration policy in the past but are now being modernized. Things are a lot better than they used to be on the legal side of things, and I believe they will continue to improve.
On the other hand, the Taiwanese people are overwhelmingly open and friendly to foreigners. Sometimes to a fault. Compare that with my country, which is pro-immigration in terms of policies but where large sections of the population detest immigrants.
What policies are you referring to?
Taiwan’s OK, but there are two things which piss me off. I’m not allowed to have a mobile phone or credit card in my own name simply because I’m a foreigner. I could be the Sultan of Brunei and they wouldn’t give me so much as a debit card I could use abroad. Mobile phone I have done through a friend, but credit card ? Would you guarantee to pay someone else’s credit card bill ? I mean that’s just madness. And I had a lot of hassle trying to get a landline…
Three things. The way Taiwanese people regard themselves as oh so superior to everyone else in Asia except the Japanese.
But where to go ? Where can I have this quality of life on such a piss-poor pay packet ? So, the government hates us. Well, I never expected anything from them, and my motto in that department has always been “what do you expect from a pig but a grunt?”, so I guess I’m here until I get sacked / deported / run over.
That’s because N$180 ~= US$5.40 :raspberry:[/quote]
I guess you haven’t been getting the VIP prices. :raspberry:
Well I love the inexpensive food here in Taiwan. Five us went out to a local restaurant here in Taichung county … well, of course it is a little beat up, but the people are friendly and the food is good. Six of us had big bowls of meat-sauce rice, quite a few vegetables, several meat dishes, some side dishes, all kinds of do-fu, and some sweet buns for dessert … all for only NT$ 3600!!! Can you imagine?? Ten US dollars for all that food!!!
You have lost a zero in the conversion. NT$ 3600 is US$ 100.
Oh, that’s classic! 
But actually, its more like US$ 109!
Damn, I hope jimmy hasn’t been calculating this way for a long time!
Oh, that’s classic! But actually, its more like US$ 109!
Damn, I hope jimmy hasn’t been calculating this way for a long time![/quote]
Perhaps it’s better he didn’t know. Ignorance is bliss. and he sounded oh so esctatic.
I hope he doesn’t feel prompted to go back there and smash the place up for ripping him off.
Jack,
Now jimmy can console himself by re-calculating his salary… just think… he’s suddenly making ten times more than he was just yesterday!
That’s because N$180 ~= US$5.40 :raspberry:[/quote]
I guess you haven’t been getting the VIP prices. :raspberry:
[/quote]
Clearly, I will have to take this up with Alleycat, along with the photos I took of him at Carnegie’s. :fume:
( 
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“But so far I haven’t been able to think of any place I’d rather be. I always have a wonderful time - wherever I am - whomever I’m with. I’m having a fine time right here with you.”–Elwood P. Dowd
I wish I could be like that, but I’m not.
“There’s a cottage camp just outside Akron - in a grove of maple trees – green - cool - beautiful. I’d go there with a pretty woman. A strange woman – a quiet woman. I wouldn’t even want to know her name – while I would be just - Mr. Smith. Then I would send out for cold beer. Then I would tell her things. Things that I’ve never told to anyone. Things that are locked - deep in here. And as I talked to her, I would want her to hold out a soft white hand and say ‘Poor thing. You poor, poor thing.’”–Dr. Chumley